This section is for people aged 18 and over. Producing alcohol for sale without a licence is prohibited in Russia. The calculator is intended for reference calculations.
How much water to add for dilution
The amount of absolute alcohol does not change when you dilute — only the volume does. Hence a simple formula:
Example. 3 litres at 70% need to be diluted to 40%. Water: 3 × (70 / 40 − 1) = 2.25 l. The final volume is about 5.25 l.
When alcohol and water are mixed, contraction occurs: the volume of the mixture is 2–3% smaller than the sum of the volumes. Because of this, the actual strength after dilution by the simple formula turns out 0.5–1% higher than calculated. Add water gradually and check the strength with an alcoholmeter at 20 °C.
Blending two distillates
2 litres at 60% and 1 litre at 30% give about 3 litres at 50%.
Absolute alcohol and the heads fraction
Absolute alcohol (AA) is the amount of pure ethanol in a volume: V × A / 100. It is used to calculate the share of "heads" — the first fraction of distillation, which contains methanol, acetaldehyde and esters. It is collected separately and never used for drinking. Usually it is 8–12% of the AA in the wash.
Safety
- Never leave a running still unattended and keep a fire extinguisher nearby.
- An alcoholmeter shows the correct strength only at 20 °C. At other temperatures, use a correction table.
- An alcoholmeter does not work in wash or liquids containing sugar — only in clean distillate.